The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-08-07
THINGS A LlNEMAN SEES.
CURIOUS PEEPS INTO sEC0ND-sToRT
NINDOW&
The Jacks o the wires who FLt AmouR
the Peies-whst wes Seen by y Husband
I'm a RoIe-Tho Man with q Club.

The Jacks . the wires who FMt Amens
the Peies-whst wns Sees by Husband
Up q Poie-Tho Man with n Club.
II Peeping Tom had lived In modern days
he would have come to New York and been
lineman. A lineman ia q man who has the
privilege OF climbing up poles and looking In
at everybodys windows at any hour Of the day
or night. The linemen are the property OF the
telegraph. telephone, electric light and other
companies that preempt the atmosphere for
their business. as other people buy land for
factories There are several hundred Of them
in New York and vicinity. They all 20 spurred
like fighting cocks, but are marked by an en-
tire absence Of strut or style In other respects.
The reason Is that It doesn't pay to wear good
clothes in shining up dirty poles and clingins
to the ragged edges Of grimy cross bars. The
lineman on duty is about as unkempt speci-
men as can be found among those who earn
their living by honest work.
1t is doubtful II the linemen exercise fully
the privileges that they have as pryers. For
the peace Of mind Of several thousand estima-
BILE citizens who have telegraph poles opposite
their windows. it's to DO hoped that they do
not. Although they are constantly popping up
on q level with the upper windows. where the
inhabitants think that no one can look in.
all the linemen say that they rarely see
anything worth speaking Of on their aerial
tours OF duty. An explanation Of the line
mems indifference to tho sights they see was
offered by one Of them yesterday. after he had
listened to the story OF the Lady Godiva.
WELL" he said, II 'sposo what Peepin' Tom
see was worth lookin' at, but II he'd looked at
O chairful Of corsets and switches and patent
to blind his eyes. Leastways never heard OF
any lineman goin' blind on account OF what ne
saw. There was one feler that never coald
s SIX st' spark rom where light wire had
crossed q telegraph line. but that's the nearest
] ever hearn to any Peepin Tom business
"FfS Srmerly this jack q the wires, that climbs
abroad on level with bedroom WINDOWS IN
midnight, looking for trouble in ne wires;
the slsss landscape than he at
Wires tosether into cables and running them
while many Of them are going underground;
pbiaaItous Aess q shslr lines ;an over th n
ise PRETTY Certain . and definite operation.
Somebody's consent has t9 30 asked before
again sfs Is drsns @ster
good deal on the get-there principle. II pair
Of stairs lead down, the lineman isn't apt to
e s ss Fhe
It Is half block away from. that pair. and
loads down through somebody's living rooms,
pectcd addition to family party.
These are some other things that different
linemen allege they have seen In the course Of
their professional careers:
small boy getting spanked.
A mother watching her child die.
A dude putting on his complexion
Thirty. six Italians living in room
One baby splitting water over another.
A stack Of chips and man with four aces
A husband watching the weighing Of his baby.
A drunken man buying wine for three gddy girls
A husband lying abed while his wife built the ire
Ayoung kissing girl behind her fathers back.
Bddy from the kitchen trying tho mssuss dresses
sick girl nursing bush on tenement window
sill.
Two countrymsn being aeeced at . brace game o.
poker.
Two girls making shirts for twenty nine cents da,
apiece.
young man calling his girl and trying to ocono
mize Ras.
A cat jumping on canary's cage Qineman yelled and
bird was sAved)
cat Just about to b. hit by empty bottle comin
from an upper window.
s..h., and Sour child ran m aknv n MI of